Wireless communication systems continue to change the world that we live in. Wireless telecommunication technology, such as, for example, applied in cellular telephony has created an entirely new mobile communicating society in which people are able to stay in contact regardless of their location, especially in the further case of satellite mobile telephones. Wireless communication systems are also changing the way in which people use their computers and other like devices. Here, for example, wireless local area networks can be configured to allow computer users to become mobile and capable of roaming about a coverage area(s) while their computers remain operatively connected to other devices.
In the field of wireless technology there is a continuing desire to increase the effectiveness of the wireless communication system. This desire may lead to lower cost devices, faster communication, increased bandwidth, increases in the size of coverage area(s), etc. One recent improvement to wireless communication systems includes the use of smart antennas. Smart antennas, for example, can be employed in base stations or other like nodes to selectively form directed beams of radiated energy in the direction of another device/node. The smart antennas may also be used to more effectively receive the signals that are transmitted back to it from these and other devices/nodes. These types of smart antenna arrangements within wireless communication systems have proven to be more effective than traditional omni directional antenna arrangements and/or other types of non-smart antenna arrangements in certain environments. U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,231 discloses some exemplary smart antenna systems.
One of the challenges facing wireless communication system designers attempting to use smart antennas is that within an overall supported coverage area there may be multiple devices/nodes supported by a base station and one or more of these devices/nodes may not be able to determine when/if the base station is busy with another device/node due to the selectively reduced coverage area of the transmitted beam(s) from the base station's smart antenna. This type of situation is explained in further examples in the Detailed Description that follows, wherein it is referred to as the “hidden beam problem”.
Consequently, there is a need for methods and apparatuses for addressing the hidden beam problem.